1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for regulating positive ions and negative ions in a particular space.
2. Prior Art
Conventional apparatuses for regulating the ratio of positive ions and negative ions in an ionized gas include an apparatus which separately adjusts the voltages applied to the positive and negative electrodes in a corona discharge and an apparatus in which an ionized gas generated by causing a water stream to collide with a hard solid is applied to a centrifugal separator.
Furthermore, apparatuses for eliminating a static electricity zone by means of an ionized gas include those which use a corona discharge and those which use direct irradiation with X-rays or blow an ionized gas generated by X-ray irradiation.
In addition, most of apparatuses which clean air by means of an ionized gas are those which utilize a corona discharge. An apparatus which utilizes the Lenard effect is also know for this purpose, in which an ionized gas is generated by causing a water stream to collide with a hard solid.
However, apparatuses which utilize a corona discharge in order to control the mixture ratio of positive ions and negative ions involve problems with noise that is generated by the corona discharge, and such apparatuses also involve a danger of deleterious effects on the human body by the ozone and nitrogen oxide compounds generated by the discharge, as well as a danger of electrical shock and explosion. Furthermore, in the case of such apparatuses, it is not easy to control the mixture ratio of positive ions and negative ions to a desired value. Moreover, in the case of air-cleaning apparatus using a corona discharge, the cleaning effect has a narrow range.
Furthermore, the apparatus which utilizes the Lenard effect requires a mechanism which causes a high-velocity water stream to collide with a hard solid in order to generate an ionized gas and a centrifugal separator which is used to separate the ions, etc. As a result, the structure is complicated, and the overall weight tends to be large; furthermore, such a structure is susceptible to mechanical problems.
In the case of apparatuses which remove static electricity by a simple direct irradiation of X-rays or by a blowing of an ionized gas generated by X-rays onto an object, equal quantities of positive and negative ions reach the vicinity of the object. In this case, if the static electricity is on the object temporarily, this static electricity can be removed by means of equal quantities of positive and negative ions. However, if static electricity is continuously generated as in the case of rotating belts or powders jetting from nozzles, etc., problems would occur if equal quantities of positive and negative ions are supplied. In other words, since ions which have the opposite polarity from that of an object to be treated continue to be consumed, ions which have the same polarity as the object remain and are replenished, resulting in that effective removal of the static electricity becomes impossible.